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Cover 3 College Football
CFP First-Round Burning Questions: Alabama-Oklahoma, Miami-Texas A&M, Tulane-Ole Miss & JMU-Oregon
00:47:21
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- [00:00]
A
Heading out of town this weekend for a big football game. You know, cheering, tailgating, the whole experience. But while you're soaking in all the excitement, you might have realized something. Your home could actually be doing something while you're away. That's right, you can host your home on Airbnb while you're gone. And it's such a practical way to earn a little extra money. I started thinking about it for myself. A few nights of hosting could help cover part of a trip or even fun tickets to another game. It's easy. It doesn't take over your life. You just make your space available and let others enjoy it while you're out having fun. We've seen the benefit of it with family here in North Carolina. You're away and then you come back to a little extra cash and no hassle at all. So if you've got an upcoming trip, whether it's a football weekend, a quick getaway, or a family visit, hosting really does feel like a smart move. You seriously, your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much@airbnb.com host. And welcome Back to the COVID 3 podcast here on CBS Sports. That's Tom Fornelli. I'm Chip Patterson, coming to you live on CBS Sports Network. Fired up to be with you for the next hour as we continue to look at the College Football Playoff first round getting started on Friday night with Alabama and Oklahoma, then a triple header of matchups on Saturday, starting with Texas A and M in Miami. Then we move over to Ole Miss and Tulane, and then finally it'll be Oregon and James Madison in the nightcap. Four first round games feeding into four quarterfinal matchups. And so what we're going to do is we're going to go matchup by matchup, taking a look at some of the burning questions that we have earlier on the COVID 3 podcast this week, which of course you can find wherever you get your podcast or@YouTube.com cover3 we gave the Big Game breakdown kind of going inside the matchups, the nitty gritty. But now let's lean out. Let's spread it out a little bit with some burning questions. So, Tom, let's start with the Alabama side. And in Alabama, Oklahoma. What is your burning question for Kaylin DeBoer and the Crimson Tide?
- [02:26]
B
Yeah, you mentioned our Big Game breakdown earlier this week on the COVID 3 podcast about this game. And one of the stats I brought up during that Big Game breakdown is that in Alabama's last five games against FBS opponents, their offense is averaging only 1.7 points per possession. And we talked all year on the show about how bad Oklahoma's offense has been. They're at 1.64. So Alabama's offense has been as productive as Oklahoma's for over a month now in their last five games. So going into this rematch, because if we go back to the first meeting, Alabama did nearly double up the Sooners in yardage, and they still lost the game because of three turnovers. But we thought maybe the problems in that game were just due to Oklahoma's defense being phenomenal. And we've seen those problems exist in every Alabama game since. So my biggest question here for the burning question about the Tide is, is Alabama's offense broken? Because it sure doesn't look like the unit we saw earlier this year.
- [03:23]
A
Okay, so we did not have Jam Miller in the SEC championship game. We did not have Josh Cuevas, the tight end, in the SEC championship game. There is the potential that you can get a little bit healthier if you are Ryan Grubb, the offensive coordinator, if you are Kaylin DeBoer, who obviously has very much has his hands on this offense. You know, what are the. What are the counter punches here? Because I'm with you. The. The fact that you have to go all the way back to, you know, the Vanderbilt, the Tennessee game, you have to go all the way back to mid October before you've really seen this Alabama offense look as dangerous as it did. And it looked dangerous enough that we thought Ty Simpson could be a Heisman Trophy contender. We thought that Alabama was going to be, you know, a little bit more of a threat if they made it to Atlanta to win the SEC championship. How would you pivot? Or is it just as simple as having to do with the health of and availability of some of these players?
- [04:15]
B
I do think health has a factor, but I think the biggest problem is, you know, this is a team that has struggled to run the ball all year long. And earlier in the season, you know, Ty Simpson was tearing teams apart through the passing game. Jeremy Bernard, Josh Cuevas was a big factor. But Ryan Williams, who's kind of been hit or miss all year long, shows up for some games and just disappears and others. But Alabama was able to move the ball effectively enough in the air to make up for that run game. I think what's happened is defense is. Have found ways to, you know, slow down the passing game, which has really taken that away from the Tide, and it's forced them to have to run the ball, which they still haven't proven an ability to do so if you're able to take away their passing game. Alabama really doesn't have a counter punch and hasn't showed us an effective one.
- [04:57]
A
Well, my burning question for this Alabama team is very much tied to it, but there's a whole other level that we haven't gotten to it. So my question is, how healthy is this Alabama team? And we just mentioned Jam Miller, we just mentioned Josh Cuevas. We know that the offensive line has had some parts that have been moved around, especially late in the season, but defensively as well, we are really starting to see the injuries pile up for this group though. Xavier Brown gets hurt in the SEC championship game against Georgia. Against Georgia, Kaylin DeBoer came out in L.T. overton, who we widely looked at as an NFL draft candidate, maybe one of the most important players along that defensive front. You know his status is in doubt for this game. You look at Justin Jefferson, you know his status might be in doubt for this game. I know that Alabama's roster is loaded and our very own Gary Danielson, I remember a couple years ago famously, like almost joked like, well, oh gosh, Vern, I guess they have to pull another five star off the bench. Like, yes, there are four star and five star prospects here, but this depth is really going to be tested when it comes to Alabama, even on the defensive side of the ball. I mean, do you think that they have the kind of squad that that can sustain even more of an availability issue and be able to get in and out of Norman with a win?
- [06:15]
B
I don't think they do. I think the difference is when Gary made that comment a few years ago is the transfer portal in NIL has really kind of thinned out a lot of these rosters that used to just be three deep of five stars because you see it, five stars aren't going to sit on the bench if they have an opportunity to go start elsewhere. And I think we've seen that kind of flattening in the sport, which is why we've seen, you know, the Big Ten winning national titles in the last few years and we've seen the way that the recruiting rankings have changed because these guys are spreading out. But as for this game in particular, you know, there are the injuries we know about and then there are some that are kind of whispered about and rumored behind the scenes. I think the good news is offensively, based on what Kaylin DeBoer has been saying in press conferences this week, they feel confident or at least optimistic about Jam Miller and Josh Cuevas. And starting center Parker Brailsford. They think they're trending in the right direction. What they're not as confident about, as you mentioned, Lt Overton. I think DeBoer used the word doubtful to play this weekend and he was not there in the SEC championship last week. And as you mentioned, he's a very good player. I don't think there's an LT Overton on the bench who can just step in and fill in for him and be as impactful as he is. And then there are the whispers about is Ty Simpson dealing with some kind of injury that, you know, they're not putting on the availability report because it's not keeping him from practicing, but maybe it's hindering his ability to play at full capacity. So I do think when you look at this one, this will be a huge storyline for this game. If they are as banged up as they have been the last few weeks and especially as they were against Georgia, that makes Oklahoma, who's already playing at home and has that advantage a little bit, you know, gives them something, a little bit of kick in their, in their favor.
- [07:45]
A
Well, let's, let's turn our attention to the, the home team right there. The Sooners, which already do have a win against Alabama this season. Brent venables, who's got two wins against Kaylin DeBoer taking out the tide in each of the last two seasons. You know, we, Oklahoma, we've, we call them SEC Iowa. For those, for those fans of the COVID 3 podcast who rock with us, they are a little bit to me of no, you know what you are getting when you sign up for the Oklahoma football experience in 2025. So I'm curious, what's, what is your burning question for the Sooners going into this matchup?
- [08:23]
B
Well, you know, they've always said defense wins championships. I don't know if I fully agree with it. I think that's far more important in the modern era of football is can you score enough points? That's my biggest question for Oklahoma going into this matchup. It's been my biggest question about Oklahoma all year. How do they find ways to move ball, the move the ball against this Alabama defense because they did win the first meeting, 23 to 21, but they needed the help of three Alabama turnovers to put those 23 points on the board. So if Alabama's not turning the ball over repeatedly in this game, will you be able to move the ball 75 yards and get into the end zone to put seven points on the board? Because if you Looked at the first game. Oklahoma, who has struggled to run the ball all season, could not run the ball against Alabama. And John Mateer in that passing game had a very tough time that day. You know, he was 15 for 23, was averaging only six yards per attempt. It was not a very pretty performance by the Sooners, even if they got the win. So if they want to pull off another win here, beat the Tide twice in the same season and move on to the second round, I think we might not have to see more than 23 points. It's just we might have to see them be more effective on offense to get those 23 points.
- [09:31]
A
Yeah, I mean, there's only but so many times you can hope Isaiah Satania is going to take a slant 60 yards to the house. I mean, there's got to be, there's got to be some more effectiveness there from the Sooners offensively if you want to give yourself a good chance. I 100% agree with that. My burning question for Oklahoma kind of has to do with the initial excitement about the arrival of quarterback John Mattier, because John Mattier showed up after being an electric playmaker at Washington State. But he also showed up with Ben Arbuckle, the offensive coordinator who was his offensive coordinator at Washington State. And so he said, you know, there's going to have all the familiarity there, there's all the reasons that this can, you know, really, really work well to give a spark to an Oklahoma offense that struggled. Well, as we've mentioned already here in this hour, Oklahoma's offense was not dominant. It is not the reason that you would say that they are here in this College Football Playoff, but we still know that John Mateer has some great playmaking. He just needs to tighten it up like you just mentioned, especially from a subpar performance the first time in the first go round. And that's why I just have to think that whatever you've got from Ben Arbuckle, from a schematics and adjustment standpoint, what can he do to know what John Matier does well, to know what Alabama did to defend you the first time, when what are your wrinkles, what are going to be the ways that you try to come up with new ways to make the offense work easier? And if you're John Mattier as the quarterback, as somebody who's always trying to go through and always trying to find ways to be able to improve with another chance to go at a high level defense like Alabama has, what can John Mateer do differently here? There are lessons to be learned. There's also just you got to play better factor of this. Do you think that John Mateer has those steps forward where we might be able to see some better performances from him here?
- [11:27]
B
I do think you want to find ways to get him easy throws early in the game just to build up his confidence. That's a pretty standard practice with most quarterbacks and I don't think that they did a very good job of that in the first meeting. And I think the other thing that you might see different in this rematch is we saw very early in the year we mentioned Oklahoma's running game has struggled all year. Mattier was the run game, but as the season wore on, they weren't really using him as much as a runner because, you know, it's a long season, you don't want him taking all those hits. But now you're in a situation where you win or your season's over. So are they as cautious with John Matier or do we see him used as a running back or as the running game far more often? And I don't mean scrambles. Are there designed plays calling for Mater to get on the edge, use his legs and pick up yardage, whether it's just five yards to get a first down or looking for an explosive. My theory is that we're going to see him used in that role a lot more than we have over the last month. And I think that if he's effective enough doing it, it could be something that Oklahoma's offense benefits from greatly.
- [12:23]
A
It's just such a huge part of the College Football Playoff era through the four team. And I think we have to say here in the 12th team, if you've got a quarterback that can run when your season is on the line against an elite opponent. Sorry, Bud. Is it? We got ice baths for a reason. You're going to get out there and you're going to run because we've got to find a way to be able to go and get that first down. So I definitely think that watching the quarterback run game and the threat of it, right, you pop a big run early. Now all of a sudden the defense has to adjust and then you're maybe able to open things up through the passing game. All things that we're going to be watching into that matchup again Friday night, Alabama at Oklahoma kicking off the 20, 25, 26 College Football Playoff in style with a couple of blue bloods. Well, coming up on the other side, we turn our attention to Miami and Texas A and M. The early game on Saturday. Our Burning questions and more next. Back here on the COVID 3 podcast live on CBS Sports Network. Continuing to go game by game for this College Football Playoff first round. And we don't just have questions, Tom Fornelli, we've got burning questions. These are the ones that are on our minds, that are on our hearts. It is what we are continuing to circle back to when breaking down these matchups that we have been breaking down ever since they were announced on selection day. We are now turning our attention to the early game on Saturday that will be Miami, the 10 seed, the final team in this bracket taking on Texas a M.11 one only took a loss in the last last week of the regular season to Texas. So the Aggies playing at home, Kyle Field, 12th man in comes Miami. What's your burning question for Mario Cristobal's Hurricanes in this matchup?
- [14:16]
B
I think more than anything there's a lot to like about this Miami team and there's a lot we know about the Miami team. But I'm wondering what kind of impact does wide receiver C.J. daniels have in this game? Because Malachi Tony has been the stud, the star of the Miami offense as far as the passing game is concerned. But C.J. daniels is somebody who began his career at Liberty last year, transferred into LSU and then this year transferred into Miami. And he was supposed to be like the guy in the passing attack. And early on in the year he was a very big part of it. He was typically finishing with like five catches for 70 yards per game. Then he got hurt against Stanford, missed the next three games, came back against Virginia Tech but didn't really play. He was in get at Pitt last in Miami's last game but didn't really play that large of a role. Now with the extra time to prepare for this game against Texas A and M, will he see a bigger role in this game? Because I do think that if he does, it's very important for Miami going on the road in this environment to have a secondary option in the passing attack. Because if Texas A and M, is it able to limit Tony or take him away? You have to have a counterpunch to give Carson back another opportunity. Because if you don't, we've seen what Carson Beck can sometimes do when that first read is taken away and then he finds himself under duress in the pocket, it starts becoming turnover time and you want to avoid that on the road, especially in a playoff game. So I think I'm, I'm, I have a feeling Daniels will be healthier than he's Been in about six weeks and we could see him have a, the biggest game he's had in a while. So that's going to be something that's interesting to watch.
- [15:49]
A
Yeah, great opportunity. Should be there. You mentioned Malachi Toney. He was our CBS Sports freshman of the year. An all purpose player who's just been fantastic. So Daniels with a real opportunity to be able to provide some balance in that passing attack for Carson Beck and the Hurricanes. My burning question is going to be on the other side of the ball. It is very, very simple and I don't think it's asking a lot, but the reason why it's burning is because I can just imagine how impactful this could be. My burning question for Miami is can Reuben Bain be the best player on the field? And I'm not saying the best player for Miami's defense. I'm not saying the best player for Miami. I mean, can we come out of that game, you know, like 4:00pm Eastern time? We're talking about it on CBS Sports HQ and we're like, wow, Reuben Bain, Miami's star defensive end, was the best player on the field because he is one of the best players in the country at his position. He, he is finally having a season that I think is representative of that high projection that he had as a high school prospect. He is forecasted to be one of the top edge rushers that is taken in the upcoming NFL draft. And it isn't always that those players show up with their very best performances on the very biggest stages. But every now and then it does. And when it does, as a football fan, I'm always, you know, enthused. I like when our great players are great, especially when everyone's watching. And so if Reuben Bain has one of those games which edge rushers can have from time to time where single handedly they attract so much attention. They beat the double teams, they come up with the big sacks on third and 10. Like if you are able to do that, then I think it really starts to change things. This Miami defensive front, we've talked about them all year long. They are great. They've also been very good against mobile quarterbacks in terms of being able to keep them bottled up, limiting their effectiveness and forcing them into mistakes. Marcel Reed has made more mistakes against the best competition he's played this year. Reuben Bain, if he's the best player on the field, I don't know, Tom. I kind of see this being a situation where he's like, well yeah, duh, the top 10 NFL draft pick decided he was going to play at the top 10 NFL draft pick. Am I asking too much from Reuben Bain right here?
- [18:12]
B
I don't think you are. I remember a couple years ago when Bane was going to be a freshman, Bud brought him up on the show as saying, hey, this is somebody that Miami's been kind of hyped about in practice and they think there's going to be a very good season for. And I started watching him as a freshman and I was like, oh yeah, I get it, this kid's going to be very good. But as you mentioned, this year he's really kind of jumped out to that game breaker level type of player to where he's the kind of guy who not making the direct comparison, but he has that kind of Micah Parsons or T.J. watt, Miles Garrett impact where he can change a game on his own. So I don't think you're asking for too much. And I think that if you are Texas A and M, that's really the focus of what you're going to be working on as far as your blocking schemes and your play calling and what you plan to do. You're going to want to know where Reuben Bane is, line up before every single snap because it's going to dictate how you're going to be successful because you do not want to give him a chance to, you know, turn this game on its head because he has that kind of ability.
- [19:05]
A
Yeah, well, let's hang right there. It seems like you're starting to wander into that as well. So Texas A and M, what's your burning question for the Aggies? What's Colin Klein, the. The now Kansas State head coach, doing to prepare his group for that challenge in one of his last opportunities as the Aggies offensive coordinator?
- [19:25]
B
Yeah, how does this A and M offensive line handle this Miami defensive front? Because it's strange to say considering A and M plays in the sec, but the fact of the matter is, if you look at the way their schedule broke down this year, they haven't really faced a whole lot of defensive lines as good and as strong as what they're going to face with Miami. And we talk about Reuben Bain, he might be the best player. He's not the only NFL player on, on this Miami defensive line. There's going to be three or four guys on there who will be playing in the NFL one day. So this is a huge test because as we've talked about with Texas A and M all year, they are one of the most complete teams in the country. There really isn't a weakness on this team. They're not, maybe not elite at everything, but there's no bad spot. And I think that while we've given their skill position players and Marcel Reed a ton of attention for how successful they've been, all the success this team has on offense comes from its offensive line giving them the ability to do whatever it is that they want. But this is one of those defenses that could give that offensive line a lot of trouble. And we saw last time out, Texas A and M playing Texas might be the best defensive line they've seen all season. It was certainly the best one they'd probably seen since the Notre Dame game earlier in the year. And we saw this offense struggle in ways we hadn't seen it struggle pretty much all season long. So now you're going up against the Miami front that I think can wreak a lot of havoc that could put pressure on Marcel Reed that can make him make bad decisions like we saw in that first half against South Carolina not too long ago before the Aggies were able to mount that second half comeback. This is going to be a key position battle for me in this, this game. If Texas A and M's offensive line is able to handle those guys, I like the Aggies ability to go on and win. If not, it could get ugly. And I do think, honestly, Chip, I'm not really going out on a limb here, but of the four first round games we're looking at, I think this one has the biggest chance of being like the classic game that everybody's kind of tuning into and remembering at the end of the playoff whether these teams go deep on a run or not.
- [21:15]
A
And it's kind of simple, right? We've got two awesome offensive lines, we've got two great defensive fronts, we've got two turnover prone quarterbacks who can block, who makes a mistake. I mean, the swings in this, I, I am not going to believe that the game is done here until we're at triple zeros. I'm with you. I think this one's going to be so much fun. And in my, one of my thing, one of my pieces here just to put a bow on it. My burning question from Texas A and M, can you pressure Carson Beck into mistakes? Four interceptions against Louisville, you know, I mean, he wanted to continue to turn the ball over. How giving here in this holiday time of Carson Beck with that football and if we're going to give all the love to Ruben Bay and I don't want to overlook Cassius, how Because Texas A and M brought in an edge rusher from Bowling Green and he ended up being one of the biggest defensive stars of the season in the SEC. No, we remember of course him jawing at LSU's offensive line, but it was really that down to down pressure that Howell can be able to apply on an opposing quarterback. That can get you off your mark, that can force you into making that throw you shouldn't make to speed up your mental clock. Now, Beck is not exactly a dual threat quarterback. He ain't a statue, but he ain't exactly dual threat. So is how we're going to be able to just pin his ears back because there's a real opportunity for Texas A and M's defense to try to be able to make life difficult third and long situations. You set that up, you release Howell, you let him go. Texas A and M was very good in those spots all throughout the season. It's definitely something that I'm keeping an eye on here in this matchup. Well, coming up on the other side, we turn our attention to Oxford, Mississippi, the first ever College Football Playoff appearance for the Ole Miss Rebels with a new head coach and plenty of storylines. Our burning question for that game against Tulane and more next, back here on the COVID 3 podcast live on CBS Sports Network. With the two lane green wave made it out of the American Athletic Conference. And before John Sumrall their head coach, goes to take over at Florida, he'll be facing off against a future SEC opponent in Ole Miss, which will not be led by Lane Kiffin, but will be led by its next full time head coach, Pete Golding, who was the defensive coordinator. Now if this is making your head spin, how about more? There are future LSU coaches who will be coaching for Ole Miss in this game. Among them offensive coordinator Charlie Weiss Jr. Members of Lane Kiffin's Ole Miss staff who have been granted permission to return to Oxford for this game in one of the biggest games in Ole Miss football history. Now, thankfully, with all this stuff going on around us, we know that when the game kicks off, football will be the number one thing that matters and the chance to advance in the College Football Playoff to the quarterfinals. Now, the first time these two teams played because, yes, like Oklahoma and Alabama, this is a rematch. It was a decidedly ole miss advantage, 45 to 10 on the final score. So with all the chaos around this and knowing that we've already seen this game once, Tom, what is your burning question for Tulane?
- [24:35]
B
Well, my burning question for Tulane is how many stops can we realistically expect the two Lane defense to get. Because if we do go back to the first meeting between these two, there weren't a whole heck of a lot of them. Like ole miss had 11 possessions on offense. They scored on eight of them. One of the ones that they didn't score on was just the Rebels kneeling the clock out at the end of the fourth quarter to win the game. And this has been, you know, obviously it was a huge problem for them against Ole Miss in the first game, but realistically, the defense has been Tulane's biggest problem all year long. It's what's gotten them into trouble in the games that they lost. You can go back to their road game against UTSA in which they hardly got any stops in that one as well. We have seen Tulane get into these shootout kind of games, and while they were good enough offensively to win a lot of those in the American Athletic Conference, I don't know that they're good enough to win a shootout with an Ole Miss team that has been one of the better offenses in the country, whether or not Lane Kiffin remains with the staff or not. So I think that is going to be interesting. What does Tulane, what does John Sumrall do to kind of slow down this Ole Miss offense? Because when you look at how they are like Trinidad Chambliss has been the star. He's the guy who kind of took over, has the great story. He's the D2 transfer from Ferris State, comes in, takes over balls out. But Kwan Lacy at running back is one of the best players in the country and is probably the best player on this offense. So there's really no easy way to stop this unit. So for Tulane, this is a very big test and if they don't figure it out, it's going to be real hard to win this game.
- [26:07]
A
Yeah, just to back you up right there, the. The first time that Ole Miss punted in the game was in the third quarter. The first half drives went touchdown, field goal, field goal, touchdown, field goal. So While it was 23 to 3 at halftime, buddy, this could have been 35 to 3 very, very easily if Ole Miss had just been a little bit better of taking care of business at the red zone at the end of long drives. Yeah, Tulane has got to have a better start on both sides to the ball. But I'm going to zero in specifically on Jake Red Slap, the two lane quarterback who when he played Ole Miss the first go around, it was just his fourth game with Tulane. We remember he was off in the. He left BYU in the off season, didn't even get to join Tulane until right before preseason camp. So I am going to believe that he is going to be better in this second go round than he was in the first, if for no other reason than familiarity with the offense, familiarity with his teammates, but also because it is really hard not to be better. Jake Red slapped 5 for 17 for 56 yards and benched for Brendan Sullivan in that game. Wholly ineffective when it came to running this offense. I mentioned those first half drives in terms of the Ole Miss side. How about those first half drives for two lane punt, punt, field goal punt, they could not move the football whatsoever. Also, Jake Retzlaff with his legs, you know, the rushing touchdowns, very, very clearly something that's been a big part of this offense, but not necessarily as they were coming down the stretch. So, you know, they played fau, they played Charlotte, they played some of the teams at the bottom of the conference as they were looking to clinch a spot in the American Athletic Conference championship game. Then they get to the AAC title game against North Texas and what do we see? Hey, there's all the rushing attempts, 15 rushing attempts for Jake Retzlaff. So kind of like what we were talking about with Mattier earlier in the hour. I would not be surprised if in the College Football Playoff with everything on the line, we see Red Slap running a good bit more than we did in the back half of the season. All right, what about the Ole Miss side of things? We've got a lot of the same players, Kewan Lacy, Trinidad Chambliss, but coaching staff's a little different without Lane Kiffin. What is your burning question for the Rebels?
- [28:24]
B
Yeah, how much impact did Lane Kiffin have on play calling on game days? Because, you know, we know that Charlie Weiss Jr. Has been the play caller, but Lane Kiffin clearly during the season has influence in what the game plan is going into an opponent during the week trying to figure things out. And as the head coach and as the play caller previously, you know that he kind of has the right to overrule a play to call and maybe throw his own play in there at times during the game. Well, Lane Kiffin is not going to have any say in putting a game plan together for this one because he's too busy worrying about his new job at LSU and he's not going to be there on the sideline to maybe notice some things and pick things up and give advice to Charlie Weiss Jr. About what he's seeing that could help him with a play call. So without Kiffin, how much of an impact does that have on this Ole Miss offense? And does it maybe lead to some, you know, maybe just situational errors, maybe some miscues, maybe some false starts, procedural, that kind of stuff. So it'll be interesting to see because we, we did see in the first matchup like Tulane was able to run the ball a little bit and they just couldn't get those stops, as we mentioned on defense. If that offense is a bit sloppier in this rematch without Kiffin around, maybe it helps keep Tulane in this game a little longer, which only gives them more confidence as the game goes on.
- [29:37]
A
You know what I can't get out of my head is Pete Golding now has to make the fourth down calls. So overall on the season, Ole Miss was not like overly aggressive, but we have sort of viewed Lane Kiffin as, you know, being a very much a willing to go for it type guy. With 27 fourth down attempts on the season, Ole Miss was third in the SEC, but only just inside of the top 50 nationally. There's a lot more aggressiveness and a little bit more snaps. Honestly, that went around for some other offenses, but still, that's going to be a defensive coordinator making a kick or, you know, a punt or go for it. A field goal or go for it. Those calls are going to be made by somebody very new, not Lane Kiffin, somebody who's been making those calls from a offensive coordinator mindset for a long, long time. So I'm with you. I think that's a burning question. We have no idea. We don't have a book on Pete Golding as a fourth down play caller. So he's going to have to either trust Charlie Weiss Jr. Inherently, but the head coach, especially if you're not just the interim for right now, but the head coach moving forward. I think those are going to be a big part of that. Which is part of my burning question here for Ole Miss. Is Pete Golding ready for his first impression? Because Ole Miss fans, I think are going to really gravitate towards Pete Golding and look at him as somebody who stuck with the program as Lane Kiffin left, as Charlie Weiss Jr. Left, as other assistants left, you know, his decision to, to really remain in his excitement about taking ownership of it. He's drawn a lot of comparisons about how he is not Lane Kiffin right now. That's great. Unless you don't win like Lane Kiffin, then Ole Miss fans might want Lane Kiffin. Like, it's great that you don't do hot Yoga. And everyone's like, oh good, the last coach who left did hot yoga. Well, well they're going to want the yoga and the stretches and the, you know, all of our trees and our morning salutations like, like we're going to want all of that if it's going to lead to more double digit wins and there's going to be time for that. But for Pete Golding, things like the fourth down calls, things like getting this team ready to go, this is your first impression and it's at home. If Ole Miss looks awesome, the place is going crazy. Yeah, that's our guy, that's our guy. Like if it's not a double digit win, if it's closer than expected or heaven forbid they lose, that is not a good first impression for the start of the Pete Golding era. So again, just like we were talking about with the fourth down calls and other aspects, we've got no idea of what to expect. I'm going to say that the same team that did a good job of running the football, scoring points and playing pretty good defense can do that well enough to win this game. But it's up to Pete Golding to make sure that they're ready to go. Do you have any sort of read or expectation on, on what we can expect from, from Golding's Rebels?
- [32:30]
B
No, it's impossible to know because he's never been the head coach. And you know, you have seen instances of like defensive coordinators when they become head coach. Sometimes they get caught up in the idea of just thinking you can win a game two to nothing, like you can win a game with your defense. You know, we'll just get a safety and that's all we need. And as you mentioned earlier, like Lane Kiffin on these fourth down decisions, very much like by the analytics, by the math, by the, a defensive coordinator might be more inclined to play that kind of field position game which could help keep a team like Tulane who you should have a superior edge over as far as talent, help keep them in the game. So it will be interesting. We're not going to know until they put the ball down and the whistle's blown what kind of coach Golding will be. I would think that being on the sideline at Ole Miss as often as he has and seeing how effective going forward on fourth down has been for this team, I would think he mirrors that approach. But you never know.
- [33:21]
A
My number one piece that I'm gravitating towards for my confidence that Ole Miss will be, you know, ready to go has been his importance to this program as a recruiter, which means he knows the people, which means he knows what makes them tick. So I think they'll be here on fire. I think they'll be ready to go. But lots to learn about Pete Golding for his first impression as the Ole Miss football coach. Well, coming up on the other side, we'll turn our attention to James Madison, 2,800 miles across the country looking to shock the world and an Oregon team that has its own chip on the shoulder after a one and done showing in the CFP one year ago, OR JMU. Our burning questions and more. Back here on the COVID 3 podcast live on CBS Sports Network. Rolling through our burning questions for the College Football Playoff first round. We've already gone through the first three matchups. Now we'll go to the nightcap. On Saturday. It will be jmu, the James Madison Dukes coming out of the sun belt as champions 12 and one on the season. They are looking to take on Oregon 11 and one in the Big Ten. They were the Big Ten champions the year before, missed out on the Big Ten title game, but they've got a home playoff game in Austin Stadium. So, Tom, what is your burning question for the Ducks?
- [34:47]
B
My burning question is, will Oregon look to shorten this game? Because, you know, going in, they are, what, three touchdown favorites? It's the largest spread that we have ever seen in a college football playoff game. So, you know, strategically, maybe you feel like you don't have to empty the clip on this one against James Madison to get out of here, especially at home with a win and move on. But I think the other thing we have to factor in is Oregon's injury report. They've been really banged up to finish the year. And I think that Dan Lanning and this coaching staff haven't gotten enough credit for the fact that they were able to get through a very difficult stretch of their schedule late in the season and win these games despite missing key players at receiver. I mean, they were down to like their fourth and fifth receivers as their leaders. Going in, they had Kenyon Sadiq, who was a tight end, is one of the best in the nation, but at receiver they were thin. They were down to their fourth string tackle at some times during these this stretch where Alex Harkey, their starting right tackle, was missing games and they were able to really lean on their run game to do it like. So I'm wondering if going into this matchup, if they feel like maybe, you know, you don't need to rush back to Cory and more if he's still not 100% or Gary Bryant or even Evan Stewart, who have. There's been some rumblings that maybe he'll be able to return for the playoff after getting injured in the preseason and missing the entire regular season. Maybe you're more comfortable just kind of turning around and handing it off and feeling like you're going to be able to run the ball effectively enough against the James Madison team to still put enough points on the board to get out of here with a win. So that's the one thing I'm interested in seeing here from the Ducks.
- [36:19]
A
Yeah, much love to Jeremiah McClellan, but I was used to scoring touchdowns in the fourth quarter and not the first quarter. You know, we got real deep on that wide receiver depth chart and that's where I'm going right there. Pairs pairs very nicely with your burning question. What does the injury report look like? Who are you bringing back? How healthy are they? Do you maybe want to allow for some of those players to have a game like this just to get their feet under them, even if we know or think that they're not going to be, you know, tested to have as much of an impact, allow them to be able to get back into the flow. And great point on the way that this Oregon team played with all of the injuries. You know, you mentioned that and I was just running through, I was like, okay, so like Iowa, Minnesota, USC, Washington, those are like four top 20, 25 caliber teams. And you went through all that basically playing offense left handed where you just needed Dante Moore to save you and then a run game to be able to get it done. I great call there, but I'm going to be very curious, similar to what you said about shortening the game. Just what does the injury report look like? And we won't know that until we get a little bit closer to kickoff. But dad gum it. It's a question that burns and so I'm curious about it. So what about the JMU side of this? What's your burning question for the Dukes?
- [37:30]
B
Yeah, is it fair that James Madison's inclusion in the College Football Playoff has led to like some kind of strange existential crisis with our college football media brethren, like especially with our two co hosts who are not here today. And I'm wondering if the reason they're not here is because they're just not what to make sure of or what to make out of life now that a team like James Madison of all teams is playing in a college football playoff game. Because you've seen such a strange reaction to it where a team that won its conference and did everything that was asked of it to get into the College Football Playoff is now causing everybody to be like, we have to change the entire format. We spent the last few years telling you that we need to expand the playoff to give more teams a chance. But dang it, now that we're seeing the teams that are getting a chance, we're. We can't let these guys into the field. This isn't right. We can't let James Madison go on the road to play Oregon. They might get blown out. As if. We haven't seen blowouts in the College Football Playoff in every year of its existence. Even when it was only four teams, Chip. Heck, we went back to the BCS era when it was best two teams in the country. How many times was the loser getting beat by 30 of those games? It happened pretty regularly. So it, it is fascinating to me, the reaction that I have seen. Like, we used to look at this as a great story. James Madison, a team that nobody was really thinking of before the season began as being a playoff contender, gets to the College Football Playoff. And instead of celebrating that fact and being, you know, like, wow, that's a great story. They went, they won their conference, They've been one of the better teams in the country this year. It's like, oh, man, this is what's wrong with college football. Letting the little guy get a chance.
- [39:08]
A
Yeah, I. If you are going to call it a national championship, encompassing the idea that everybody who plays FBS football across the nation, that this is our champion, then don't treat it like a country club. Don't make an initiation fee where you have to spend this much on your roster to qualify for being able to win the national championship, that you have to have at least this many TV ratings to be able to compete for the national championship. The teams that are champions, the teams that are the best in the sport, they'll get that on their own. We don't need that. So if you're going to continue to expand, don't expand the field by adding more filler that can just buy their way into the playoff. If you're going to expand the field, add more teams that have won on the field. I'm with you. It's incredibly head scratching. It's. I. It is a little bit confusing to see people who I know love the sport take that kind of position of being so exclusionary of. Of anybody for even getting a chance to participate. Yeah, I'm kind of I'm not, I'm not sharing that position at all. But you know that that's probably why they're ducking us here on this show. They don't have that, that burning question.
- [40:21]
B
And one of the more head scratching elements of it to me is the idea. It's like, well, they have no chance to win the thing. And you know what? I agree. I don't think James Madison is going to win four college football playoff games and be crowned the national title or the national champion. But I could say that about half the field, Chip, I don't think half of this field has the ability to win four games and win a national championship. So I, it's, it's strange. It's just, it's wild to me that it's like, okay, well the team with three losses, we can give them another crack at it, but the team that lost only once all year and won its conference, I don't know, they don't really deserve to be in the field.
- [40:55]
A
Yeah, it makes it feel a little bit more like professional wrestling or like a, like a, like a feast week basketball tournament that was organized as a, as a television event rather than a, than a competitive way to crown a national champion. But, but what's going to happen, Tom, because I think you're right, is that we're going to get to the semifinals and like three of those five teams that have earned it are going to be the last one standing. And it's going to be fine because people keep pointing to the NCAA tournament. And you know what happens more often than not in the NCAA tournament? It, by the end of it, it's all the teams that were good to begin with. You know, like most NCAA tournaments provide the kind of winner that everybody in College Football Playoff is trying to orchestrate. And that's a 68 team field anyway. So, yeah, my burning question is can the Dukes run the ball against Oregon's defensive front? Probably not, but dadgum it, it's a burning question that we're wondering if they can run the ball against Oregon's defensive front. JMU has done a good job of running the football and stopping the run. That gives you a chance to be able to win in any football game. And so if they can do it here, they can play a little keep away, maybe keep, give themselves a chance to push it as late as possible into the game. Give Alonza Barnett a chance to maybe do something special. So we'll keep an eye on that as well. That'll be your late game on on Saturday night. And a reminder that after Oregon JMU, we will be live on YouTube.com cover3 with our instant reaction to all of the College Football Playoff first round action. Well, coming up on the other side, if we were to predict who will be the top performer, the most outstanding player of this College Football Playoff, who are we picking? And more nukes back here on the COVID 3 podcast. Little bit of time left for one last preview to throw on the record. And that is our prediction. Who will be the most outstanding player from the College Football Playoff? Tom, who do you think, when it's all said and done on January 19, will end up being the star of this College Football Playoff?
- [43:02]
B
I think if you look at the trends of how things have gone late in the season for the Ohio State Buckeyes running back Bo Jackson. No, not that one. A younger Bo Jackson has been more featured in that offense. We're seeing him get more carries and I think that will continue into the College Football Playoff. I know Julian Saying is the star. Jeremiah Smith is the star. I think Bo Jackson will be the star of the three games that Ohio State would have to play to win a national title. So I think if the Buckeyes do end up taking it home, Jackson will have been a star in the on the on the path and he will be the next, you know, big name college football player because of it.
- [43:37]
A
You know, you say Julian Sayings the star, but that's not what it looked like at the Heisman Trophy media day. Because I tell you what, well, there were a lot of people around Diego Pavia and there were a lot of people around Fernando Mendoza. Julian Saying, the starting quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes was all by himself. And I know the last time we saw him, he was running for his life under duress against that Indiana defense in the Big Ten championship game. But in the same way that I am picking the Buckeyes because of a chip on the shoulder that they get coming out of that title game loss, I also think that Julian Saiyan is about to have a big bounce back. So throw me on the record for Julian Saying as the top performer in this College Football Playoff. Well, we want to thank all of you for hanging out. A reminder, you can watch the COVID 3 podcast at YouTube.com cover3 and download the podcast podcasts wherever you get. Your podcast.
- [44:42]
B
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- [44:54]
A
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- [45:00]
B
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- [45:05]
A
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- [45:08]
B
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